29 Oct Belgian Marketing Awards – Young Marketing Company of the Year: Just Russel

By linking scientific insights to technological innovation in a highly customer-oriented way, Just Russel made a breakthrough in the dog and cat food market in a short period of time. The innovative formula built on data and personalization resulted in rapid growth at home and abroad. And in a well-deserved nomination for the Young Marketing Company of the Year Award.

“With this case, the founders, four friends with a shared passion for animals and entrepreneurship, prove their ambition to fundamentally change how people care for their pets,” said Valérie Molitor (Bel) of the selection committee. “Not only have they succeeded in building a strong e-commerce platform, their personalized data-driven approach, unique subscription formula and strong customer relationship model speak volumes. It is no coincidence that they have been tripling their business results every year for four years.”

Data and personalization

Exactly in the personalized data-driven approach that so appealed to the selection committee are the two coat hangers on which Just Russel says its entire marketing strategy is hung. Founder and marketing director Louis Mortreu explains. “Personalization is obviously in our food, but it’s a line that we extend throughout the entire customer experience.” And in doing so, Just Russel has an eye for detail. “If we send a newsletter to someone with a puppy, it has to contain content that is relevant to people with a puppy.”

Data is code word number two. “Measuring is knowing. If you want to scale something, if you want to grow quickly, good data is essential.” And whether they succeed in expanding their market share. Internationally, too, Just Russel is doing well. “We recently started sending more than half of our food packages abroad. The product-market fit we found in Flanders appears to be perfectly transferable to other countries.”

Science and technology united

The elements of data and personalization come together nicely in the starting point of the Just Russel concept, which at the same time highlights the innovative nature of the brand. In the app, owners fill out ten short questions about their pet, data that Just Russel uses to calculate the ideal amount of calories and nutrients. Talk about an innovative approach. “There was little to nothing moving in the dog food market for a long time before,” Louis looks back. “Innovations were mostly limited to some visual changes in packaging.”

With their approach to nutrition tailored to the animal, the brand couples scientific insights with technology. The right portion at each stage of life – monthly deliveries evolve with the animal’s life cycle, one of the strengths of the flexible subscription formula – is said to be crucial in the fight against obesity. “Up to 60% of pets in the Benelux struggle with this. On a traditional bag of dog food there is a nutrition chart showing that a heavier dog must necessarily eat more. That, of course, makes no sense.”

At Just Russel, this creates a beneficial snowball effect. The scientific approach builds consumer confidence, then, through word-of-mouth advertising, customers are continuously added and their input data makes the algorithm ever smarter. “Even universities and big brands are amazed by the amount of data we have at our disposal. This is our great strength, because it allows us to constantly optimize our formulas. With more than 600,000 completed profiles, we know exactly which breeds have which problems at which ages. Problems we can thus prevent, for example by adding the right supplements to the diet.”

Direct-to-consumer

Supplements with an order, free vet advice, recommended dog insurance, all kinds of tips and tricks … ‘Total approach’ is perhaps a third code word. “We really swear by preventive health care,” Louis explains. “Empowering people to take better care of their pets is at the heart of our mission.” A mission that resulted from thorough market research. “The offer is getting wider and wider, but people find it difficult to find the right food for their pet. In that context, we provide transparency.”

For transparency as well as convenience, because Just Russel simply delivers to your home. Cutting out the middleman has advantages in terms of sustainability, but above all it creates a cheaper and also extremely simple system for the customer. “Picking out the best food for your dog or cat becomes a no-brainer this way. And this creates a lot of extra time to do fun things with your pet.” Which Just Russel then capitalizes on with its side business, which also includes a content section around education. “Nutrition is the common thread, but we do a lot more.”

Two-way communication

As an online company, Just Russel believes remarkably strongly in word-of-mouth advertising, but of course it deploys many other marketing techniques and channels. For example, the young brand is also showing itself to be up to speed in terms of content marketing, with its own blog and popular accounts on various socials. “There we fully opt for positive content with added value, tailored to the codes of the medium in question.”

But the lines of communication can thus also be customer-initiated. “We attach great importance to our personal customer service and are always accessible, through as many channels as possible. And because our fifteen-member team of customer service agents includes veterinarians, nutritionists and other in-house experts, we always have quality answers ready for health questions.” In short, Just Russel adopts a customer-centric attitude across the board, for both animal and owner.

Register now for the ceremony of the Belgian Marketing Awards >